A bird's-eye view on research 3

Today was our third day at the academy (Wednesday 14 April).

The first part of the morning dealt with different domains, different epistemologies.
Prof Cheryl Walker (SU, Sociology)(observer)
Prof Leslie Swartz (SU, Psychology)(research group get together in his kitchen)
Prof Jacques du Plessis (SU, Law)

The second part of the morning addressed the library as a place.
Prof Johannes Cronje (CPUT, Education, Innovation and Technology)(Twitter, paperless office, loves librarians))
Prof Jasper Reese (UWC, Biotechnology)(doesn't need the library)

We ended the formal program with a discussion on the impact of the past few days on our outlook of research, as well as questions we have.

What I have learned/my opinion: 1. There is a definite need for an IR, open access and for a place to host data sets at Stellenbosch University. 2. Researchers work under tremendous pressure, with a lot of things to attend to simultaneously. 3. When they can't find the information they are looking for, they get very upset. They want it preferrably the same day. 4. The different approach by different disciplines towards research - law students are discouraged to use Google, and they would rather make use of books/journals/blogs. 5. Books from Special Collections play an important role in many disciplines. 6. Librarians need tools such as Kindl/iPad. It is kind of embarassing to work in a library environment, offering access to e-books, but none of us have access to an e-book reader. 7. Social networking tools form an integral part of research conducted by some researchers. 8. Some researchers regard the library as redundant, and believe they can conduct research without the library. 9. A coffee machine in the Research Commons is a must. Postgraduate students are looking for a "home" away from "home". They tend to feel homeless after completing their honours. 10. Re broken links to research articles - fortunately the library can come to the rescue here as well by hosting research on institutional repositories. Each item submitted will receive a persistent link, never to be broken like with an ordinary web page. 11. Researchers do not like to receive e-mails containing bulks of information/references. 12. Re preservation of digital file formats: lots of initiatives going on, and we are currently researching this specific topic in order to establish a digital preservation policy for the University of Stellenbosch (also the theme of my research article for the Carnegie Academy).

Highlights (except for the excellent speakers, venue and food): volley ball, picnic, walk with Mimi every morning, dinner in bed by the very considerate, caring, professional and competent staff at Mont Fleur (thanks Michael!).






Some more photos:

Carnegie Day 3

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